Women's Swimming and Diving Impresses at Cardinal Invitational

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Senior Katherine Thornton was a part of four of MIT's nine victories at the Cardinal Invitational this past weekend, which was hosted by Wesleyan University. The Engineers impressed on day one of the competition, winning over half of the 15 events, though did not factor in to the final results, as the squad didn't compete on the second day.

Also competing in the invitational were Wesleyan, Brandeis University and Keene State College.

Thornton took home two individual victories, in the 500-yard freestyle (5:24.34) and the 400-yard individual medley (4:46.60), as well as two relay victories. The El Cajon, Calif. native was part of the 200-yard medley relay team which took the top spot at 1:53.96 along with Jen Chao, Priya Parayanthal and Stephanie Sidelko, as well as the victorious 800-yard freestyle relay team with Nicole O'Keeffe, Sasha Brophy and Abby Clark, which clocked in a time of 8:24.18.

Rounding out the relay wins for the Cardinal and Gray was the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Ashley Pinchinat, Sidelko, Chao and Brophy, which touched the wall at 1:42.87.

Parayanthal also picked up an individual victory in the 50-yard backstroke (29.38), while Brophy won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.01.

The 100-yard backstroke was dominated by Tech, as it swept the top three spots. Chao finished at 1:04.67 for the win, narrowly edging out Paryanthal (1:05.00) and Stephanie Brown (1:05.12).

Even more impressive was the Engineers' performance in the 50-yard freestyle, in which MIT swimmers took five of the top six spots. Sidelko (25.21) slipped in for the win ahead of Brophy (25.72), while Pinchinat (fourth), Star Simpson (fifth) and Sarah King (sixth) rounded out the top swimmers.

Tech returns to the pool on Saturday, Dec. 9, when it hosts New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference rivals Smith College and Wheaton College in a meet that will begin at 1:00 p.m.